There are two parts to this assignment:
Part 1 – Current Challenges in Our Child Welfare Policies
Read the case study in the text beginning on page 152 entitled “Children Who Are Not Headliners”. This is a very stark case study based on a real family. I found myself asking many questions such as, “Why were the children not removed from their family and placed into foster care?” I have worked with families similar to this one, and I remember that one of the realities is that often families who are in the child welfare ‘system’ have experienced generations of neglect, trauma and chaotic living. Basically, our efforts must be multi-faceted so that we can help both parents and children when they are embedded in these kinds of troubles. To demonstrate your understanding of the application of this chapter’s concepts to the case, please answer the following questions.
1. Based on what you have learned in this chapter about the current policy challenges in the child welfare system, what policy changes might make the system more useful to this family? (Hint: These policy challenges begin on page 142 of the chapter.) Be sure to tell WHY these policy changes might be effective.
2. What is ONE way that risk could be reduced for this family?
3. What is ONE way that protective factors could be enhanced for this family?
Part 2 – Examining Culture and Policy
Assume that you and your friends decide to spend the day in Chicago. You arrive by train around 12:00 noon and head for a restaurant that was recommended by a friend. Just as you are approaching the restaurant you notice that there is a baby carriage containing an infant parked on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. It appears that the infant is unattended.
Upon entering the restaurant you notice two things in particular. One, the place is packed but there is a table left for you and your friends. And two, from inside the restaurant the baby carriage is visible through some of the windows.
1. Are you at all concerned about the unattended infant? Or, is it someone else’s concern?
2. If you are concerned, what would you do (if anything)? Tell the manager of the restaurant? Call the police? Shout out loud across the restaurant, stating that there is someone’s baby outside unattended and asking if they know whose baby it is?
3. Would you assume the baby’s parents are eating or working in the restaurant? Would that affect your actions?
4. If the parents are in the restaurant and they identify themselves, what would you do or say (if anything) to them?
5. Would you view the parent’s action here as an example of child neglect? Child abuse? Both child neglect and abuse? Or neither, because it is nobody’s business to begin with except the parents?
The rest of the story…
This short case is based on an actual incident that took place in New York City in the late 1990’s. A Danish couple, visiting the city, were arrested and lost custody of their child for three days because the Department of Children and Families viewed them as negligent parents. However, in Denmark and other Scandinavian countries it is quite customary for parents to leave infants and small children unattended (but in view of parents) in public. This example is intended to reinforce the idea that our laws and policies around child welfare are based on our collective western culture. Because we have so many cultures represented in the United States, it is important to realize that the application of family policy may be experienced quite differently by various groups.
